Another blow. Yu felt his lip burst open and the taste of iron filled his mouth.
Takeda looked down at the boy with utter disgust. “I said I didn’t ask for your damn opinion. Some brat’s gone missing. Find him.”
A young woman timidly peered out from behind the private. Yu recognized her. She’d arrived at the camp along with two children—a two-year-old and a six-year-old.
“Maizuru’s not the best place to be lost at night,” Yu said over the rumble of his motorbike.
“I just hope he’s alive.”
Ijuin and Yu rode along the dark road, down Gorogatake and into the western side of the city, with only their headlights to illuminate the path ahead. Neither of them had a license, for whatever it was worth these days, but given the state of things, it was hard not to pick up a few skills after all they’d been through. They were comfortable driving four-wheeled vehicles as well.
That said, gasoline was precious. The bikes they’d scavenged from the city were fuel efficient by necessity. They were exceptionally handy in times like these, though.
“This is the place.”
“God!” Ijuin groaned. “How did no one notice the kid wasn’t in the car on the way back?!”
Yu, on the other hand, was spent. “Everyone’s tired. We’re all just trying to get by.”
They had come to a stop in the parking lot of a large hardware store. A few Defense officers had stopped by here in the afternoon with a military truck and a minibus with roughly ten refugees on board, tasked with scavenging for supplies and nonperishables. Everyone chipped in, from elementary schoolers to senior citizens—anyone who wasn’t already busy with fishing, gathering, farming, or any number of the many jobs that needed doing.
“The military can spout all it wants about ‘protect and serve.’ I don’t know about you, but all I’m seeing is a lotta slave-driving and not a lotta serving! You and me, Ichinose, we’ve got it bad!”
“I’d call it straight-up bullying, personally. Guess that’s what we get for being around Professor Chloe.” Yu’s left cheek still throbbed. “It sure feels like the only way Takeda’s gang can get their kicks anymore, huh?”
“We gotta get the hell outta there, fast! Take some weapons, some food, and just go!” Ijuin urged. “But first, we’ve got a lost kid to find!”
After two hours of walking, the urban surroundings started to give way to overgrown rice fields and cracked pavement, split apart by rampant weeds. Much of the surrounding vegetation had grown even taller than Yu. Ijuin had had it up to here with the trek.
“So there’s this famous line from a manga,” he said. “‘There’s no such thing as a weed!’ It means you shouldn’t look down on people. Every weed has its name, right? Well, if you ask me, if it grows out of freakin’ nothing, I think it counts as a weed.”
“That happens around mountains. Lots of seeds and pollen in the wind.”
Neither Yu nor Ijuin had grown up around harsh wilderness. They were modern kids, raised in modern cities. But this was a mountain town.
The boys kept their Type 89 rifles close. A survival knife and a 9mm pistol hung from each of their belts, and night vision goggles were strapped over their heads. Maizuru may have been a modern city at one point, but now, danger could be lurking anywhere.
“Aw, crap, hold on. Something’s close,” Yu said.
Some sort of beast was barking and growling nearby. Wild dogs, by the sound of it. There was a child’s wailing too. By the time Ijuin had called out to him, Yu was already sprinting towards the commotion.
“I’ll meet you there! Don’t push yourself!” Yu called back.
“R-Right, sorry, dude!”
Yu was, to put it delicately, much quicker on his feet than his partner. His slim figure aside, he used to do a fair bit of running as a midfielder, so his childhood soccer experience gave him a bit of a decisive edge in that regard.
Yu followed the noises to an expansive, one-story house next to a rice field and quickly turned the corner. A plump, middle-aged man was huddled up against the wall alongside a young boy. The two trembled in fear as five large dogs gnashed their teeth and snarled at them from all sides. The once-domesticated pets had gone completely feral and were more like bloodthirsty wolves than man’s best friend.
The boy was familiar—he was the lost child they were after—but not the man. Of course, Yu hadn’t memorized every single refugee’s face, but his stubble, glasses, and timid demeanor didn’t ring any bells.
At last, Ijuin arrived on the scene. “S-Sorry about that. Whoa, hey, we gotta help them!”
“Wait, don’t shoot!” Yu warned. “You might hit those people. You know we’re not great shots.”
Ammunition was extremely rare, so the two had few opportunities to practice their aim. Given that, Yu couldn’t help but wonder why they had been the ones to get stuck with this job. He pointed his rifle up, switched it to semi-auto, and fired a few shots, each giving off a surprisingly pleasant pop with very little recoil. For an outdated model, it wasn’t a bad gun.
The effect was instant, and the wild animals began to cautiously retreat from the foreign sounds and the strange smell of gunsmoke. But one particularly vicious-looking beast remained. It growled and flared its teeth. Yu stifled his fear.
“The thing’s got eight legs!” Ijuin cried.
The monster had two pairs of front legs and two pairs of back legs. Although, all things considered, it wasn’t that far-fetched during an era of sorcery.
Yu pointed the muzzle of his rifle at the creature, his heart pounding. Slowly, he crept closer. And closer. Just until he could be certain that he wouldn’t miss. And then, he pulled the trigger.
Pop!
One bullet through the head. Enemy neutralized.